History Main / OffstageVillainy

* ''Film/MonstersBall'': Lawrence must have committed some ''very'' serious crimes to be on DeathRow, but his character is introduced mere days before his execution, which shifts the focus to how his wife and son will have to deal with his death.

* ''Film/NoEscape1994'': All of the generally benevolent Insiders presumably did something bad to end up in prison and then get sent to the island (Killian implies that part of the Father's sway comes from how they [[spoiler:incorrectly]] believe he's the only wrongfully convicted man among them) but only the Father, Robbins (who killed an AssholeVictim), Casey (who was only an accomplice to an implied FelonyMurder), and Dysart (a former bomb-maker) ever have their crimes disclosed.

* Magneto, in the 1990s ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' animated series, is consistently presented as the heroes' ArchEnemy, especially in the intro. However, it's only in his first few appearances (and the last episode) that he is actually doing evil and acting at odds with the X-Men. In every other appearance, he is just trying to find a peaceful place for mutants to live, and ends up working with the X-Men [[EnemyMine against a greater evil]]. Of course, his major villainous acts in those appearances included large-scale industrial and (attempted) ''nuclear'' terrorism, so they more than sufficed to establish him as a villain.

* The Authority in iD's ''VideoGame/{{Rage}}'' where throughout the game we're told just how evil they are, how they're out to get you and will kill you on sight...but we see precious little of them before the second disk. The first time we do see them is when we're attempting to break out a terrorist from a prison so their hostility to the player-controlled character is understandable.

* ''Series/BreakingBad'' rarely explored the effects that Walt's meth cooking had on his average customer, save for one scene where Jesse and Mike break into a meth-house that is mostly PlayedForLaughs. Given how popular his "Blue Sky" meth is indicated to be, to the point that Walt's drug empire extended all the way to the Czech Republic with a cash flow in the hundreds of millions, it's easily in the tens of thousands. Story-wise this is because Walt, who wants to keep his criminal career and private life separate, refuses to meet his customers, first using Jesse as his street dealer before making deals with organized crime groups when he decides to move into wholesale production. Presumably, if there were more emphasis on the number of lives that Walt ruined just by cooking alone, [[MoralEventHorizon the audience would have turned against him]] long before he engages in his more direct, visible crimes in the later seasons.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', Judge Claude Frollo has been persecuting Romani people for at least twenty years before the movie's present day.

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Trafalgar Law, aka The Surgeon of Death, gets hit with this trope. Thus far we have seen him act very calm, insightful, reserved, and [[spoiler:healing Luffy]]. None of that screams villainy. It might be played with; between how he acts and the reason for the bounties on Luffy and Zoro, he might be similarly wanted for actions that are, at the very least, justifiable. In which case, the offscreen behavior that is villainous is only towards the corrupt World Government (or a misunderstanding). [[spoiler: And now that he's a Warlord of the Sea, his darker side is being hinted at once again. How did he become one? By removing the hearts of 100 pirates and sending them to the World Government.]]
** Gold Roger also applies, in a sense. Every flashback featuring him always seems to present him positively. By contrast, pretty much every villainous act he's done is always presented via word of mouth of his victims.

* In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' Dimitri's status as a villain depends on one's personal perspective, and the route, but the trope applies to him on his route, Azure Moon. While he is disturbingly obsessed with taking revenge on [[spoiler:Edelgard]], enjoys killing enemy soldiers and once threatens to torture a defeated enemy to death, his significant body count during the TimeSkip is often mentioned, but never shown. Said route involves his redemption, so perhaps the writers didn't want to make him too unsympathetic.

* Ma Vreedle in ''Franchise/{{Ben 10}}'' is constantly [[CharacterShilling shilled]] as a fearsome, skilled villain whose actions made her wanted in 12 systems, banned in 27 others, and somehow caused Vilgax (who is considered the most dangerous being in the Galaxy) to be terrified by her. The things she is actually ''seen'' doing onscreen, however, are cartoonish schemes in the same vein than the show's more comedic villains, making you wonder why everyone is so afraid of her.

* ''WesternAnimation/Gargoyles'':

** ''Calcutta Adventure'': Kronick's nerve gas was said to have caused some sheep herders to get sick, but we never get to see any of the victims of this ailment.

* Magneto, in the 1990s ''WesternAnimation/XMen'' animated series, is consistently presented as the heroes' ArchEnemy, especially in the intro. However, it's only in his first few appearances (and the last episode) that he is actually doing evil and acting at odds with the X-Men. In every other appearance, he is just trying to find a peaceful place for mutants to live, and ends up working with the X-Men [[EnemyMine against a greater evil]]. Of course, his major villainous acts in those appearances included large scale industrial and (attempted) ''nuclear'' terrorism, so they more than sufficed to establish him as a villain.
* Tuma, his Skrall legion, and the Bone Hunters in ''WesternAnimation/{{Bionicle}}: The Legend Reborn''. Everyone makes them out to be deadly threats, but when they are on-screen, they are revealed to be a bunch of goofy {{Mooks}} and a dumb [[TheDragon Dragon]], and are easily defeated. The only bad thing they do is plundering a village and beating up a good guy, however we never see them do it, and only two villagers react with shock to the destruction of their home (even the Village Leader doesn't seem to care). Keep in mind this only applies to ''Legend Reborn''. In other media, the Bone Hunters raided trade caravans and attacked the city of Vulcanus; while Tuma was a full EvilOverlord, manipulating the Bone Hunters and protagonist tribes and having the Skrall subvert the impending TournamentArc by razing the stadium instead.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'': In the ColdOpening of "I Know Why The Caged Bird Kills", The Monarch performs his best villainous entrance ''ever'', slaughtering dozens and leaving pure mayhem in his wake... only to immediately find out that they're at the wrong address and he's raiding his accountant's office instead of the Venture compound.
* ''WesternAnimation/RoughnecksStarshipTroopersChronicles'' has the [[BugWar Bugs]] successfully destroying the White House, the Eiffel Tower and several other targets in an AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs moment. We don't actually ''see'' this, however, as that would probably have been a bit traumatic for a kids' show. Rather shockingly averted with the first appearance of a Brain Bug, though. The psychic "replay" we get shows quite clearly [[BrainFood what it does to prisoners]]. The only thing we ''don't'' see is the man's skull actually being pierced; we see the proboscis rise and fall and watch the soldier's body twitching with his head just offscreen.

** The [[TheSyndicate Dark Hand]] are said to have connections to nearly every known form of criminal activity, and when Valmont, Finn and Ratso [[GetIntoJailFree allow themselves to be arrested]], they get a fifty year sentence in a maximum security prison. However, most criminal acts that don't relate to magic artifacts or are otherwise relevant to the plot aren't shown, the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Enforcers]] are mostly portrayed as AffablyEvil and [[IneffectualSympatheticVillain incompetent]], and while [[DiabolicalMastermind Valmont]] does start off as a credible threat, he soon undergoes a major VillainDecay.

* Ma Vreedle in ''Franchise/{{Ben 10}}'' is constantly [[CharacterShilling shilled]] as a fearsome, skilled villain whose actions made her wanted in 12 systems, banned in 27 others, and somehow caused Vilgax (who is considered the most dangerous being in the Galaxy) to be terrified by her. The things she is actually ''seen'' doing onscreen, however, are cartoonish schemes in the same vein than the show's more comedic villains, making you wonder why everyone is so afraid of her.

* In the 2018 reboot of ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', Hordak is the founder and leader of the Horde, but the first three seasons show him [[OrcusOnHisThrone ruling from the shadows]] in the Fright Zone. His initial conquests upon arriving on Etheria, during which he would have taken an active role, are not shown on screen.
** In season 4, Hordak takes to the battlefield and leads his troops personally. Viewers see a few shots of Hordak [[spoiler:firing on the Salineas Sea Gate and the Sea Elf Village with his arm cannon]], but most of his siege takes place offscreen. Hordak also remarks that [[spoiler:Entrapta]] is the only princess who has not yet faced him in combat, which implies that he has done battle with several princesses offscreen.

* ''{{Series/Blackadder}}'': Captain Edmund Blackadder from the fourth series is generally quite sympathetic, but he also makes mention of his career before UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne. Most notably, he mentions that in those days they only fought enemies that didn't carry guns, and preferred fighting those who didn't have spears either. He also makes reference to "massacring the pygmies of Upper Volta and stealing all their fruit", saving [[GeneralRipper Field Marshal Haig]] by personally shooting a native armed with a sharpened slice of dried mango, and generally being a willing participant in the ugliest parts of late British colonialism.

* ''WesternAnimation/Gargoyles'': WordOfGod says after the events of the comics, Prince Maol Chalvim betrayed his cousin and took the throne, and that he preferred Duncan to Macbeth because he saw Duncan was more like himself. In his appearances, the worst thing about him was that he was a case of GoodIsNotNice.

* An interesting example is Richard B. Riddick, the NobleDemon protagonist of ''Franchise/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'' who, despite being the protagonist, is considered by all to be evil incarnate. While in ''Film/PitchBlack'' he certainly starts off as a sinister character, in all of his screen time across the number of games and movies he appears in, he never really ''does'' anything explicitly evil. Most of it can easily be recognised as a man with a strong survival instinct who just wants people to ''[[ChaoticNeutral leave him the fuck alone]]''.

* ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'': After the Trade Federation invades Naboo, we keep being told that the people are suffering under the occupation and that the death toll is rising. The thing is, we never actually ''see'' any of the Nabooan citizens suffer, which makes the whole thing look more like GunboatDiplomacy (albeit by a megacorp wilfully manipulated by a Sith lord) than a whole planet being "subjected to slavery and death".
** It's never actually clarified whether it really happened. Qui-Gon suspects it's a lie to trick them into giving away their position when they hear it, and it doesn't profit them in any way. The Federation are explicitly unhappy about landing troops at all.

* ''Series/BreakingBad'' rarely explored the effects that Walt's meth cooking had on his average customer, save for one scene where Jesse and Mike break into a meth-house that is mostly PlayedForLaughs. Given how popular his "Blue Sky" meth is indicated to be, to the point that Walt's drug empire extended all the way to the Czech Republic with a cash flow in the hundreds of millions, it's easily in the tens of thousands. Story-wise this is because Walt, who wants to keep his criminal career and private life separate, refuses to meet his customers, first using Jesse as his street dealer before making deals with organized crime groups when he decides to move into wholesale production. Presumably, if there were more emphasis on the number of lives that Walt ruined just by cooking alone, the audience would have turned against him long before he engages in his more direct, visible crimes in the later seasons.

* Mileena, deposed Kahn of Outworld, from ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' is often referred too as a [[RedBaron Mad Empress]] whose disatrous leadership nearly destroyed her empire. We see and hear ''nothing'' about what she did that was so bad. And the only people who bring it up are equally unreliable and biased. Ironically, when we do see her in the story mode she's a very successful commander leading an effective guerrilla campaign against the actual monarchy.

[[folder:Comic Strips]]